Is There a Common Understanding of What Constitutes Cyber Warfare?

This research paper applies a qualitative grounded theory analysis to delineate a common understanding of the constitution of cyber warfare from twelve media, institutional, educational, governmental and military sources. Partly motivating this is the need to address the confusion between cyber warfare and what is termed ‘Information Warfare’, a broad discipline encompassing all military information operations. Another motivation is the hypothesis that agreement on the constitution, danger and potential of cyber warfare is unsubstantial or vague, that cyber warfare is a misunderstood or neglected concept, and perhaps even suffers from hyperbole and misrepresentation. Though there is a high public awareness of cyber war, there is little attempt to define the concept in existing literature. This paper unpacks the scope, danger and timescale of cyber warfare according to existing texts, and lays the foundation for an analytical framework of patterned and coherent research.